Recently Go Wichita!, formerly the Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau, held their annual meeting.  The keynote speaker was Peter Yesawich, CEO of the Y Partnership.  The Y Partnership is a leader in the field of travel and tourism marketing research.  Peter spoke, in part, about the dramatic impact that technology is having on the travel and tourism industry.  He noted the following changes:

1. Meta search is changing the game of online travel research. Think sites like Kayak which aggregate a multitude of other travel booking sites, providing the user a wealth of planning information and comparative pricing with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks.
2. Mobile phone use is creating a third screen beyond the television and computer.  Smart phones are rampant and the iPhone has made us all application crazy. Players in this market need to recognize the opportunity to connect via this very personal tool.
3. Social tools and blogs are shaping perceptions. Word of mouth is nothing new.  However, more people are getting their WOM related to travel from social media destinations like YouTube and blogs to gain first hand feedback about destinations and attractions.

The travel and tourism industry is yet another industry experiencing change driven by digital technology that is quickly becoming mainstream.  Peter’s message was, “do not ignore this.”
I’ve seen technology drastically change the advertising industry, both for agencies and the clients they serve. The timeframe between reading about emerging trends like social media, micro blogging and mobile applications to them becoming widely adopted media channels is incredibly short.
I truly believe that we must make a conscious effort to regularly evaluate how technology is changing our businesses, impacting our customers and providing new opportunities.  Three questions to ask:

1. What technologies are my customers using? Ask them if they are on social media sites.  Ask them what type of phone they have. Ask them what blogs they visit.  And don’t just ask what they use, but dig into the how.
2. How can the business leverage these technologies to achieve business objectives and add value for customers? Don’t just adopt a social media strategy or dramatically overhaul your Web site without deciding what outcomes you want to see. Don’t do it because your customers might think you are cool. Do it because it makes their interactions with your company easier.
3. What resources do I have to allocate to make this happen? These initiatives often take three types of resources: people, money and time. Determine what mix of these three your idea requires. Often, you can find resources through reallocation. Do you have a part of your marketing that just isn’t working and hasn’t been working for a while? Stop it and devote those resources to your new idea.

Asking these questions, and answering honestly, can keep you in the forefront of the digital revolution and keep your company looking forward.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simeon_barkas/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Armstrong|Shank. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.